The new normal (part 18): worst monsoon season in decades force 85,000 to flee in Burma

At least 85,000 people in Burma have fled their homes as the worst monsoon flooding in years submerged hundreds of thousands of hectares of rice fields, a government relief official has said.

Heavy rains over the last few weeks caused the inundation, which primarily affected the country’s southern delta region, said Soe Tun, a member of the government’s emergency response team, on Saturday.

Around 70,000 people have been displaced in the delta and are being housed at 219 emergency relief centres set up at schools and monasteries, he said. Another 15,000 people have been displaced elsewhere in the country, and more than 240,000 hectares (600,000 acres) of rice fields have been swamped, he said.